Language, Learning, and Cognition among Deaf Students with and without Cochlear I

描述（由申请人提供）：各种研究检查了人工耳蜗植入儿童的语言和阅读成绩。尽管结果存在巨大的个体差异（而且很大程度上无法解释），但植入植入物的儿童在这些领域的表现通常比没有植入物的聋哑儿童更好，尽管不如听力同龄人。除了幼儿的口头语言和阅读能力之外，对人工耳蜗植入术后的结果知之甚少，特别是在大龄聋哑儿童和青少年以及没有人工耳蜗植入的人中。本项目将研究（1）口语和手语技能，（2）语言和非语言认知能力，（3）从印刷和通过空中（口语和/或手语）交流中学习，以及（4）聋人学生的听力学背景（例如，人工耳蜗植入史、家庭沟通）。在每项研究的具体比较和潜变量路径分析中需要考虑的其他变量包括学业成绩、社会情感功能、词汇知识和阅读能力以及聋人学生的语言和人工耳蜗植入史。八项研究利用认知科学和传播科学的范式，将调查在三个主要领域的兴趣和相互作用的差异。三组年轻人将参加每项研究，所有三组在他们的学术能力和手语知识方面各不相同：植入人工耳蜗的聋人学生，没有植入人工耳蜗的聋人学生和听力学生。组间差异的分析，以及预测其他人的各种措施占方差的比例，将允许最全面的研究，迄今为止关于语言，认知和学习的聋人学生与人工耳蜗植入。结果将有具体的实践意义，教育聋人学生和理论意义，更好地理解语言和认知的相互作用的个人之间谁在他们的口语访问。更广泛地说，研究结果将有助于更好地为听力损失患者提供服务，使其更加高效和有效，同时增加教育和就业机会以及身心健康。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A variety of studies has examined language and reading achievement among children with cochlear implants. Despite huge (and largely unexplained) individual differences in outcomes, children with implants generally perform better in these domains than deaf children without implants, although not as well as hearing age-mates. Beyond spoken language and reading abilities of young children, far less is known about outcomes following cochlear implantation, particularly in older deaf children and youth and among those without cochlear implants. This project will examine relations among various measures of (1) spoken language and sign language skills, (2) verbal and nonverbal cognitive abilities, (3) learning from print and through- the-air (spoken and/or signed) communication, and (4) audiological backgrounds of deaf students (e.g., cochlear implant histories, family communication). Additional variables to be considered in both specific comparisons for each study and in a latent variable path analysis include measures of academic achievement, social-emotional functioning, vocabulary knowledge and reading ability, and deaf students' language and cochlear implant histories. Eight studies utilizing paradigms from cognitive science and communication science will investigate differences in the three primary domains of interest and interactions among them. Three groups of young adults will participate in each study, all three varying in their academic abilities and knowledge of sign language: deaf students with cochlear implants, deaf students without cochlear implants, and hearing students. Analyses of between-group differences, and proportions of variance accounted for by various measures in predicting others will allow the most comprehensive studies to date concerning language, cognition, and learning among deaf students with and without cochlear implants. Results will have specific practical implications for educating deaf students and theoretical implications for greater understanding of interactions of language and cognition among individuals who vary in their access to spoken language. More generally, the results will help to better focus services for individuals with hearing loss, making them more efficient and effective, while enhancing educational and employment opportunities as well as physical and emotional health.